86 
time to time to go out dredging ; and it is to be hoped that 
a commencement may be made this spring of systematically 
dredging in the Bay, so that gradually a very complete 
knowledge may be gained of the nature of the Bay and the 
condition of depth and soil, with reference to the various 
animals found; but this can be carried out much more satis- 
factorily when the station has the steamer which has 
recently been presented by the Berlin Academy for the pur- 
pose of dredging. 
As I indicated above, the expenses of this station are 
partly supplied by different governments and institutions 
who pay £75 per annum for a table ; in some cases two 
governments have jointly taken a table, and the tables are 
granted to those who wish to proceed to Naples for study. 
At present, England has but two, i.e., the Cambridge Uni- 
versity and the British Association ; but probably Oxford 
will soon take one, and why should not Owens join with 
the other Northern Universities, or with London, to take 
one ? 
“On Glacial Action in the Valley of the Wear, etc,” by 
Professor T. S. Aldis, M.A. 
The coal workings in the county of Durham have revealed 
the existence of a great depressed trench excavated in the 
coal measures, and partly filled in with drift. The part best 
known stretches from Durham to Newcastle in nearly a 
straight line, the Team Valley being the upper visible por- 
tion of it, the lower part being filled in for nearly 200 feet. 
There is, I believe, no doubt that this “ Wash ” is the old 
valley of the Wear. 
The glaciers filled up this trench to such an extent that 
the river, when set free again, often failed to find its former 
valley-in fact was altogether thrown to the east at Chester- 
le-Street, entering the sea by a post-glacial valley, though 
possibly guided in forming it by a dene or glen previously 
existing. 
